UTSA’S INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTER TO PROMOTE SBDC MODEL TRANING IN GUATEMALA
San Antonio, TX (August 29, 2012) – Robert McKinley, Associate Vice President for Economic Development at UTSA and Minerva Garcia, International Business Consultant for the International Trade Center will be having a consultation with officials in the Guatemalan government, higher-education, NGO sector, and business leaders to discuss the benefits of developing a US model Small Business Development Center (SBDC) network in Guatemala. The meeting will take place at the Crown Plaza in Guatemala City, Guatemala on September 05, 2012.
The Institute for Economic Development and the International Trade Center, with support from the US Department of State, have been helping countries to develop SBDC networks since 2003 when they began working with Mexico to develop what has become a network of over 100 centers. This meeting in Guatemala is the result of a dialogue between UTSA, CENPROMYPE (Centro Regional de Promoción de la MIPYME) and the government of Guatemala to begin the four-part process of training professionals to develop and then finally run SBDCs.
“We are going to meet with Guatemalan stakeholders to conduct an SBDC feasibility survey and focus group. This will help us to determine the best way forward. The conversations leading up to this meeting are very positive and we are looking forward the potential of adding Guatemala to the list of countries with SBDC networks,” said Cliff Paredes, Director of the International Trade Center.
Among those expected to attend the consultation is Sigfrido Lee, Vice Minister of Economy for Guatemala. A representative from the El Salvadoran SBDC association CONAMYPE (Comisión Nacional de la Micro y Pequeña Empresa, El Salvador) will be present to discuss how they successfully completed the training and developed their own network of SBDCs to assist small and medium-sized businesses.
For more information on the development of SBDCs abroad, visit http://sbdcglobal.com/internationalsbdcs.html.
